A brief from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) posits that preventing or managing chronic disease may be affected by more than just the physical presence of clinics or hospitals. Researchers looked at consumer responses to questions about wait times, service hours, transportation difficulties, and trust in providers and found that more than a quarter of those in small rural areas rated access to medical care as fair or poor compared to 8.6 percent in suburban areas and 8.1 percent in urban areas.
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